Chasing Life
by Ms.Marvel21
Summary: Dr. Robert Chase appears to have the perfect life. With a great job, lots of money, and tons of women, what more could he want? Things begin to change though after a routine medical examination, where he is tested for a disease he couldn't possibly have. Or, could he? Chase's "perfect" life may not be so perfect after all.
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue**

My hand slapped the alarm clock and I moaned. 7:30 already? Opening my eyes, I saw the light beginning to pour in from behind the cheap blinds. My head was throbbing still. How much did I drink? It wasn't really an answerable question, especially since I couldn't remember what day of the week it was.

Sitting up in bed, I felt my stomach churn. The blankets moved around me and remembered I wasn't the only one in here. A hand grabbed my thigh and I smiled to myself. Even though I could hardly remember, it was nice.

"I've got to get going to work." I said. I stood up too quickly out of bed and had to grab the nightstand. I was going to need some aspirin. And a lot of coffee.

The redhead was clutching the covers to her chest and giving me a rather odd look. "You mean I have to leave?" No, I was just talking to myself. What did she think?

"Yeah, come on, I'll help you find your clothes." I took them off somewhere in here. Gathering her items off the ground, I handed them back. "Thanks, Chase." She said. I smiled. "Wish you didn't have to put them back on…" Crap, what was her name? Alice? Alexis? Amber? I winked instead, and that seemed to cover up my mistake.

I got into the bathroom and started up the shower water. "Coffee is next to the toaster. Help yourself." I said, turning my attention back to getting ready.

Quickly I washed my hair and myself before getting out to shave. My head wasn't doing too much better, but it was manageable. Definitely not my first hangover, or my last, for that matter.

Pouring myself a cup of coffee, I took it and sat down next to the redhead at my kitchen table. Annie? Alex? I couldn't think of her name to save my life. "Well, I best be off now to work, so…"

She got up out of her chair and straddled my lab. Yanking my tie upwards, she pulled my lips up against hers. I couldn't breathe, but I think it was more because of the tie. But I wasn't going to complain. I really loved these American women.

"Nice meeting you." She smirked and got my lap. "You too, Amanda." That was it, Amanda! She smiled and walked out my apartment door. I checked my watch. 7:50. Time to go. Grabbing my bag, I dashed out the door in hopes of making it to work on time.

* * *

My alarm rang from my dresser and I let out a moan. Monday already? I sat up in bed and rubbed my eyes. I swung my legs over the side of the bed and put my feet into my slippers. My robe was on the chair next to my bed, so I grabbed it and threw it on.

I flipped the light on in the closet to grab the outfit I picked out for Monday. I changed into my skirt and blazer jacket quickly. After looking in the mirror I decided I looked decent enough. Makeup was next. I didn't wear much of it, mainly just the basics, but I wanted to look presentable to all my patients. It's the least I could do.

I went into the kitchen and poured out coffee that I made yesterday for this morning, and popped the cup into the microwave. My shoes and purse were already over by the door. I pulled breakfast (one English muffin) out of the fridge and put it into the toaster while I was waiting for my coffee.

I ate my English muffin and finished my cup of coffee with a few moments to spare. I put on my shoes, grabbed my purse and my keys, and I was ready to head on over to work. I'd be a few minutes early, but that was okay. Double-checking to make sure I had everything, I locked my apartment and headed on out.

 **Chapter 1**

 _One year later…_

"Lupis? Come on, that's obviously not it." I chimed in. My "team" wasn't making any progress, but we needed to start running test for something or we would never get any results back.

I am doing my fellowship at Princeton–Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. I am on a diagnostic team with Dr. Allison Cameron, Dr. Eric Forman, and Dr. Gregory House. Let's just say they were all interesting characters, especially House. Even though I hated it at times, it was a good job. But by golly, could they be pretty thickheaded, like now, for instance.

"And what do you suspect it is, Dr. Chase?" House asked. I took another sip of my coffee before replying. "I don't even think it's autoimmune. It's a fungal infection." Everyone in the room let out a frustrated sigh. "Chase, it can't be a fungal infection!" Cameron said, placing another lab result in front of me.

"It's still a legitimate diagnosis!" I defended. Foreman looked like he was pretty much done with all of us. "Fine, we will test for all our guesses. We just need to get these test going." He said.

"I agree," House added. "Cameron, go do your biopsy, and Foreman and Chase can go run their lab tests. Then you all can get back to me to let me know all of your were wrong." With that, he walked out of the room and into his office.

Foreman and I rode the elevator up to the patient room on the next floor. "Typical. Of course we are all wrong, at least according to House." Forman said. I let out a laugh. "Its because he's typically correct." Foreman sighed and shook his head. "Yeah, and it goes straight to his ego." Well, he was right there.

We entered the patient's room together. I grabbed the chart from the small hanging thing at the end of the patient's bed. "Hi, I'm Dr. Foreman, and that's Dr. Chase." I waved my hand and looked up from the chart. "We are just going to take a few vials of blood, and another doctor is going to prep you for a biopsy. She should be up here shortly to preform it."

Forman chatted to the patient while I applied the tourniquet so we could get the blood work done. "So Mr. Hatfield," I began to ask, before he interrupted me. "It's just Jim." Taking a wipe, I sanitized the vein I would be drawing from. "Okay then, Jim, have you traveled anywhere out of the country recently?"

I could see the patient nod. "I just came back from Mexico actually. The company I work for has a lot of hotels down there." In my mind I ran though the diseases that he could have contracted there.

"Mexico sounds like a nice visit." I said. "Make a fist." I instructed, having him clench up his arm so it would be easier to draw from. He had small veins. "It was. Playa del Carmen is beautiful this time of year."

I stuck him with the needle and his blood began to pour into the tube. We just had this one and two more we needed. "I bet. It's been forever since I've been on vacation." Foreman added. I nodded in agreement and changed out the tubes.

"After I pay off all my debt, I'd like ta go back to Oz." I said. Jim nodded. "I've been to Sydney, and it's a nice place to visit. Are you from there?" Quickly I changed the tube out for the last one that we needed. "Yeah, I was born in Melbourne, actually."

I grabbed the three vial of blood I drew as Foreman patched the patient back up. "Dr. Cameron should be in soon to run that biopsy." I said before the two of us walked out.

"I'll go run the…" My voice tapered as the two of us were approached by a woman in a lab coat. "Foreman. I didn't know you had my patient." She said, not even turning an eye towards me. I stood there with my mouth open. I didn't mean to be rude.

"Yeah, we are just going to run some tests." He said. "I'll keep you updated." And with that she was gone, just as soon as she came. "Who was that?" I asked, feeling jealous of the man already.

I pressed the down button on the elevator as Foreman laughed. "That was Dr. Collins from internal med. She's referred patients to us before." I sighed and leaned up against the elevator wall. "She's hot." I said. Foreman laughed again. "Man, don't even go there."

I raised my eyebrows. "Sorry, is she your girl?" This seemed to amuse Foreman even more. "No, not at all. Every guy I've seen trying and flirt with her ends up worse off than before. And she would hate you especially." I was in shock. "Me? Why?"

The elevator dinged and I followed Foreman off. "You're a womanizer, Chase. She hates your type." I forgot everyone seemed to know about my "private life". Guess it's not the worse reputation I could have. Well, I mean, it wasn't ideal. But in some cases it was. Whatever, just forget it.

"But boy, she's something else." I said before handing him a vial of the patient's blood. Foreman shook his head and put on gloves and goggles. "I'm sure you've slept with prettier woman before, Chase. Just forget about her and focus on our patient." His comment was a bit harsh, but I ignored it and carried on with the test to prove my diagnosis was the correct one.

While the test was running, I decided to go see how Cameron's biopsy went. Heading back to our meeting room, I only saw House. Odd, maybe Cameron was right and went to go do something. Either way, I was hungry, and needed fuel so I could stay up and finish my lab work.

After grabbing a bite to eat, I headed back up to the meeting room to see what everyone else had come up with. No one was there though. Once again, that was rather odd. Cuddy was there though. She's the Dean of Medicine. Basically she's my other boss. Her paperwork was spread out on the table.

"Chase." I heard her say my name as soon as I turned around. I entered the room and realized Cameron was in there too. "What's this about?" I asked. I glanced at the paperwork spread across the table, but I couldn't read any of it. "It's that time of year again, where we have to be evaluated and all that." Cameron said, leaning up against the table.

Oh, well that wasn't too bad. "You haven't had an exam in years, Chase." Well…that was the only bad part. "Oh, gee, I wonder why. It's not like I'm a doctor or anything." I said, making myself another cup of coffee.

"It's not my rule, it's the hospitals. You need to make an appointment with your primary doctor and have the physical results sent back to me." Yuck, that sounded totally unappealing. But I needed to keep my job. "Fine. It'll get done, but I am more concerned about our patient's health at the moment." Before Cuddy could say any more, I left our meeting room and headed for the lab.


	2. Chapter 2

"You're kidding me." I said, standing there rather gobsmacked. "I have a patient who may have a hemorrhage in their intestines, yet you want me to go get a bloody physical done!"

Cuddly looked almost as frustrated as I did. "Yes, that's exactly what I want you to do! You should have handled this earlier. Have Foreman or Cameron do it, it's not like you're the only one on that team."

She was right of course, but I still didn't want to go have this done. "Okay, okay, fine. I'll get this stupid physical done and I'll go back to trying to keep my patient from dying." I grabbed my medical chart off of her desk. "Good. Exam room 5, second floor near the lab."

Sighing, I walked out of Cuddy's office and got on the lift to the next floor up. I went back to thinking about my patient though. Pulling my beeper off my belt, I paged Foreman to go ahead and do the biopsy. I didn't know how long this dumb thing would take. Like I don't know my own health. Not like I went to medical school or anything.

I got off the lift and wandered around to find exam room 5. Cuddy never specified which department I was supposed to even be in or anything. She was probably too pissed to remember. Guess that was my fault.

"Excuse me," I said, leaning up against the counter of the nurse's station. The nurse looked up from her chart and up at me. She looked startled. "Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt, but I was wondering if you could point me in the direction of exam room 5?"

The nurse smiled and pointed behind me. "Its actually that way, over by the doctor offices. You'll see another check in station and they can let you into the room from there." I saw where she was pointing and nodded. "Thanks!"

I wondered in that direction and found the spot the nurse was talking about. I got behind the person in the line and waited. There were some patients in chairs, a few of them looking pretty sick. I didn't even know this was back here.

"Next." I heard someone say and so I stepped forwards. I walked up to the window and the nurse, again, looked at me with surprise. "What can I help you with, doctor?"

Looking down, I realized I was still in my lab coat. That's why I was getting the special treatment and surprised looks. "I am actually here for an appointment for myself." I said in a hushed tone. The nurse's eyes widened and she nodded. "Do you mind waiting or do you want to go back right away?" Honestly, I really didn't want to go in right away. If I could stall longer, that would be good. "I'll just wait until your ready for me."

I placed my chart on the counter for here. "Dr. Cuddy left forms in there for the doctor to fill out." The nurse took the file and I went to go sit down. Quite a few patients were looking at me already, probably wondering why a doctor was out here.

Grabbing a magazine off the nearest table, I began to absent-mindedly flip though it. Cars, medication, food, fishing, blah blah blah. It kept me distracted though, but it still couldn't take my mind of the patient. I should be doing that intestinal biopsy right now.

I heard a cough next to me, and I looked up and around. A lady had moved from her original seat over to the one right next to mine. I almost dropped my magazine. "Are you a doctor?" She asked, very quietly.

I could tell right away something was wrong. "Yes, what's wrong?" I turned in my chair to face her. Female, around 19, maybe 20 years old. Eyes appeared normal, not red. Face and skin was somewhat pale. Circulation issue? Tiny figure, didn't have any weight issues it appeared. "I feel weird."

It was never good when a patient said that. "What kind of weird? Do you feel dizzy? Lightheaded?" She nodded and leaned back in the chair. "And it feels like something's fluttering." Heart palpitations. Tachycardia. Arythmia. A fib. Whatever it was, was probably a heart condition.

"Is it alright if I take your pulse?" I asked. She nodded yes. Taking my index and middle finger, I placed it on the carotid artery in her neck. I looked at the watch on my other arm and watched the time. And counted. "Nurse." I said loud enough for one of them to hear me. "What's wrong?" I heard a reply as a nurse walked towards me.

"You're patient has a pulse around 140. Get her to where she can lie down. She needs a cardiologist." The nurse nodded and placed her hands around the patient's shoulders. "We will get her a wheelchair. Should I give her anything to lower her pulse?" She asked.

Another nurse was unfolding a wheelchair and bringing it over here. "She complained of fluttering in her chest, so I'd ask the cardiologist. Lying her down will help the blood circulate better and lower her pulse a bit. Sitting will make it worse."

Standing up, I helped the patient into the chair along with the nurse. "You still doing okay?" The lady nodded, but didn't talk. "You need to tell the cardiologist what you just told me, and they will get that fluttering to go away, alright?" The patient nodded again, and one of the nurses took the patient away.

The nurse that stayed looked impressed. "Did you notice she was looking pretty sick?" I shook my head. "She came over to me. Her face was really pale, and she looked like she was going to pass out."

The nurse nodded again. "I'm Nicole, your doctor's nurse." I stuck out my hand to shake hers. "Dr. Chase." She took a step back and motioned to the door. "I'll go ahead and take you back then, doctor." I put my magazine up and nodded, and followed her unwillingly.

"Go ahead and stand on the scale." She said, opening my chart and finding the form Cuddy had stuck in there. I sighed, and stepped up onto the scale and Nicole weighed me.

"Guess I could lose a few, huh?" I joked, trying to make conversation. I hated being on the patient side of this. "No, you're at a normal weight and height." She smiled, pulling back down the instrument to measure height.

I followed her back to the exam room and took a seat on the exam table. She opened up the top cabinets and pulled down two gowns. This is what I hated. "You're going to have to change into these. You're not allowed to leave anything on underneath." I could tell she knew I was dreading this. "It wont take that long, I promise. She's very efficient." She? This was a female doctor? I was being punished because I didn't get this done earlier, wasn't I?

"I'll leave so you can change and I'll come back in to take your temperature and blood pressure." I smiled wryly and grabbed the gowns. She opened up the door and left me alone.

I took off my coat and tossed it onto the guest's chair. I stripped out of my shirts, making sure to set my pager down on the exam table so I wouldn't loose it. I tossed all my clothes onto the chair and unfolded one of the gowns. Why couldn't I at least keep my drawers on?

I pulled the gown on to cover the front of me, and took the other gown and pulled it on to cover my back. At least it was long enough. I just wanted to get this over with.

There was a nock on the door and I quickly sat down on the exam table. "You can come in." I told them. Nicole came back inside and pulled my chart out again. "Okay, temperature first, then blood pressure."

She brought the thermometer in with her and stuck it under my tongue. "98.7" She said. Nicole placed the pressure cuff around my arm. I had to pull the sleeve of the gown up so she could get it all on my arm.

"Normal." She told me, pulling the blood pressure cuff off the table and placing in on my arm. "Good, because I've already seen patients today. It would be bad if I was sick." She nodded and released the pressure valve on the cuff. "It was 120 over 69." She said as she wrote it down in my chart.

"She will be in, in a few." Nicole said, before opening the door. "Nice meeting you, Dr. Chase." She said. "And nice meeting you too." I replied. She closed the door and I was left waiting.

Only a few minutes later the door opened and I felt the bottom of my stomach dropped out. This was the only thing that could make this dumb physical any worse. She closed the door behind her and stretched out her hand to me. I thought I was going to be sick.

"Dr. Collins. Nice to meet you, Dr. Chase." She said, sounding very professional. I shook her head in shock and nodded. "Pleasure's mine." Was all I could say, although I was hardly pleased. She took a seat on the stool near the small counter top. "Dr. Cuddy referred you to me, correct?"

"Yes." I said. She opened up my chart and looked over what was inside. "And this is just a physical, correct? Any complaints before I begin?" Yes, actually I'd love to get out of these gowns, and I really wish my doctor was any other doctor besides her. The one I think is hot has to do this. Just my bloody luck.

"No, not at all." I replied. She gave a curt nod and went to grab the tool she would use to look into my ears. I sat there awkwardly as she did so. She didn't talk much. "I'm going to shine this in your eyes." She warned before using the light.

She looked at my eyes before nodding. "Looks good. Open up." I opened my mouth and she leaned down to look at my throat. I tried not to look at her. Especially not down her shirt as she was leaning over. That would be unprofessional. And you know me, always the professional.

"Tonsils are normal." She placed the ends of her stethlescope in her ears. "I'm going to need you to pull the top of your gown down so I can listen to your lungs." I nodded and shrugged the two gowns of my shoulders.

She pressed the stethlescope up against my back and placed her other hand on my chest. I could feel my heart race. Why me? Why does this happen to me? "Breathe." She said, and so I did. I realized I was holding my breath.

I tried to relax, but it wasn't working. "You're heart rate sped up. Does this hurt?" She asked. Did she really have no idea? "No, sorry. I am stressed about my current patient." I lied. She nodded. "I understand."

She placed the scope on my chest and listened to me breathe again. Taking the end, she smacked my knee with it, which caused my leg to jolt up. I may also have made a noise. "Sorry, I forgot to warn you." She said, before smacking the other one. "Reflexes look good at least."

"Yeah, you gave me a fright though." She smiled. "Scoot to the end of the table." And so I did as she said. She lifted up the bottom of my gown up and pinned it up against my stomach. "Cough." She said. Which wasn't a problem, because I thought I was going to cough out of shock again.

"Cough again." And I did again. "Good." She muttered and stood up to toss her gloves. I pulled my gown back down to cover myself up. How could she just so nonchalantly do that? I mean, I'm as comfortable with naked people as much as the next doctor is, but wow.

Collins donned a new pair of gloves and I grew concerned. "Aren't we done here?" I asked, really hoping she would say yes. "Dr. Cuddy wrote on your chart that you needed a prostate exam." No. This was not happening.

"Look, I didn't get this done in her deadline, and so she's trying to make life hard for me, okay? Can't we say we did and not really do that?" Dr. Collins though, was unmoved. "I understand you may be embarrassed, but it is a fairly painless exam. The only part that may be hurt is your ego." Ouch.

I tried to come up with more excuses. "I'm in my thirties. Men don't start getting prostate exams until they are in their fifties. I'm not even at risk for prostate cancer at this age, let alone other problems." Dr. Collins crossed her arms and frowned at me.

"I could always just shred this form and say you never showed." She threatened. "Dr. Cuddy would probably make you do it all over again." I certainly didn't want that. "Fine, you win." I said. She still didn't smile. "Bend over the table."

Sighing, I did as I was told. "Demanding, aren't we?" I muttered. I bent over and placed my arms on the table, propping myself up with my elbows. "I just asked you to bend over." She replied. "I was not rude."

I made a face as she pulled my gown up again. "Yeah, but your not the one having a finger shoved up your-"I spoke too soon. Or not really soon enough. And it was painful. Very much so. And I knew it shouldn't be.

"That hurts like heck." I said. My fingernails dug into the paper on the exam table. "It shouldn't though." She said. I gritted my teeth together. "You think I don't know that?" I replied.

"You can stand up now." She said. Finally. She tossed her gloves and handed me some tissues. "Do you have to urinate frequently?" She asked. I laughed. "Of course. I drink coffee like I do water." Caffeine was great, but it was a diuretic. And I drank a lot of it all the time.

"What about painful urination? Any burning, or blood?" I looked up at her and sighed for the billionth time today. "I'm a doctor. I would've picked up on that." She nodded, and wrote something down in my chart. "Sorry, I forgot." She replied.

"S'alright." I said. I sat back down on the exam table, just as puzzled as she was. "I'm too young for cancer, and I don't exhibit any other urinary symptoms, and that leaves us with-"

"Prostatitis." She finished the sentence for me. Collins sat there for a moment and thought about it. "It is the most logical." She said at last. "Pretty common among all ages of men. I'll need a urine sample. I will look for an infection, and I'll run a PSA test."

PSA? Well, maybe if it were slightly elevated it would point to an infection "I am pretty sure that diagnosis is accurate though." I told her. "I need to be sure." She said, jotting some more notes down in my chart. "You seemed like you were in a lot of pain." She added. "My nurse will be in to give you the specimen jar and you'll have to go to the lab to have blood drawn. It was nice meeting you, Dr. Chase." She said, offering her hand again. I shook it and nodded, and with that she was gone.

Nicole was back in a few minutes and I had to wander over to the bathroom in those dumb gowns and pee in the cup. She let me bring my clothes so I could change into them there, which was nice.

She led me back out to the waiting room. "Must be all fun and games working with Dr. Collins, I bet." I said. Nicole laughed though. "She's blunt, but very nice actually. She may have come off harsh with you though." Now it was my turn to laugh. "I did think I rubbed her the wrong way a bit there."

Nicole filed my chart away. "Well, she's just tired probably. She has to put up with a lot of patients for long hours." I remembered back to my resident days and could totally empathize. "But really, she is sweet when you get to know her." Nicole added.

"Well then," I said, opening the door to the waiting room. "Maybe I'll get to see that side of her." Nicole smiled, and I left to go check on my own patient, who hopefully had their biopsy completed already.


	3. Chapter 3

"Promise me you will take your blood sugar medicine this time, okay? If you do, I may let the staff bring you normal food again. But first, we have to see if the medicine is working."

The older man thought about it for a few moments, but agreed. "Sounds like a deal to me." He said with a smile, which really brought the wrinkles out in his face. "Okay. I'll put a note in your chart, Mr. Henderson. Now catch some sleep. The body can't fight that infection if you're awake all the time!"

I headed back out to the nurses station to pick up another chart from Nicole. I'm Dr. Collins, MD. Internal medicine. I work at Princeton- Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, and take on some residents every now and again. Pretty fun to work and teach. My nurse Nicole I've known since high school. We were both set on the heath field, and it was ironic that after years apart from each other, we ended up at the same hospital.

"Here's your next patient. Female, 46, admitted for severe abdominal pain. Complains of numbness and tingling on the limbs on the right side of her body." Nicole explained. "What is she on for pain?" I asked. "Morphine." Wow, must have been some pretty bad cramps.

I took the file from her hands and reviewed it. "So, how was Dr. Chase's exam yesterday?" I put the file down on the counter. "Come off it." I said, holding the file back up to my face.

"Really? He was a nice guy!" She said, following me as I walked towards my patient's room. "He has the worst reputation at this hospital for sleeping with everyone. Sounds like a great guy." I retorted.

"The four years I've worked with you here, you've never been on a date." Oh boy, here we go again. "Don't Nicole." I warned. I really didn't want to have this conversation again. "And you've pushed every guy away that has ever tried to flirt with you! I get your dedicated to your job, but come on! You have to want to date someone! I know you."

I ignored her comment and stepped into my patient's room. "Hello, Dr. Collins." I said to the man who was next to her bedside. "Rich, Janie's husband." I nodded and started my examination of the patient. Her side didn't hurt with I pressed, and it was more centralized. As for the nerve thing, I was unsure. She would need an MRI.

"Have you traveled recently?" I asked the husband. Janie was out of it from the painkillers. "We just got back from California." He said. Hmm. I asked a few more questions before I was going to leave and order and MRI.

"Any changes in her medication? New prescriptions?" I asked, just to be sure. Some people take some weird herbs and such. Never understood that really. "She's been off birth control these past few months. We've been trying for a child."

Well that would have been useful info. "Nicole, lets get an ultrasound kit in here." She left to go get the ultrasound equipment. "Why? Do you think she's pregnant?" Rich asked, sounding excited. "Could be. The baby could be pressing on nerves, which would explain the odd tingling sensation she complained about." I explained.

Nicole was back with the cart. I adjusted the patient for the ultrasound and Nicole turned on the equipment. She applied the gel on the part that would touch the patient's stomach.

"The pain though, that's bad, right?" Rich asked, holding onto his wife's hand. "It's gone away with the medicine." Janie said. "It's a very high dose of painkillers though." I reminded her.

I ran the ultrasound tool over her stomach and looked for a baby. What I saw was more shocking though. "It appears you are pregnant." The two were ecstatic, but I had to tell them something else. "You also have a mass on one of your ovaries. I cannot tell from the ultrasound what it is."

The two looked more disappointed. "My aunt passed from ovarian cancer." She said. The hospital seemed to fall dead silent. "From the ultrasound, and the symptoms you are exhibiting, I believe it is an ovarian cyst. It can go ahead and be removed, and they will biopsy it to make sure it isn't cancer."

The couple looked more relieved, but still a bit worried. And so was I. "Let me get a consult with a cancer doctor and a gynecologist, and we will see what we can do. At least we know the cause, and we can go from there."

I left the couple together so they would have some alone time and stepped out to page the two other doctors. They should be up here soon. In the meantime, I would just have to wait.

"They were a cute couple." Nicole interrupted my thoughts. "Which relates to what I was saying before we went in there. Don't you want something like that?" She was pushing too far.

"No." I said, not looking up from another patients chart. Nicole sighed. "Come on! Most women want a husband and kids." I let out a laugh. "Very funny."

Nicole was getting frustrated. "Chase has a successful career. And he's a doctor, which you said would be a bonus. He's tall and blonde, which you find attractive. And that accent! You have to admit, that's definitely another bonus you said you'd like. He's fit and well, you've already saw him naked when you were-"

She carried on and I couldn't believe it. Did he really meet that much of my criteria? I'd have to change that. "Look, its sweet of you to want me to find someone, but I don't ever think I will, nor do I care if I ever do. I have my career, and that's all I want."

That shut her up for the time being. And just in time, one of my consults was here. It was pretty easy to catch them at this time. "Dr. Wilson, always a pleasure!" I said, shaking his hand.

Wilson was one of the doctors I worked with during my residency. I almost went into oncology but I decided on internal medicine instead. He was my favorite doctor to work with, and I was his favorite resident. He had become like an older brother to me.

"Collins, it's always a pleasure when I get the chance to work with you. What can I do for you?" He asked. I handed him the chart. "Female admitted with abdominal pain and nerve pain on her right side. I did an ultrasound and found out she was pregnant, and also a mass on her left ovary."

Wilson nodded as he read. "And you think it's cancer?" He said. "Well, it could be. Her aunt had ovarian cancer. But I think it's an ovarian cyst. I called someone from gyno up here, so that part they should be able to confirm or deny for us."

"Sounds good to me." He said, handing back the chart. "Can you remove it and do a biopsy without harming the fetus?" I asked. Wilson smiled. "You bet your bottom dollar I can. I've done it before with other pregnant women. It's been a while."

Wilson was the best at what he did, so it was a stupid question to ask in the first place. "I highly doubt your rusty." I said. The gyn doc finally arrived and the three of us came up with how to treat the patient.

"Let me know tomorrow morning okay, Wilson?" He nodded and I left the patients room to move onto the next one. It was a never-ending cycle. But I loved it more than anything.

* * *

Hey guys! Sorry this chapter is a bit shorter, but I promise you that longer chapters are coming! Since it's so short, I'll update sooner, so stay tuned for Chapter 4. Thank you all for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

"Great news!" I exclaimed. "Your blood work came back normal." The patient looked relieved. "So do I get to go home?" He asked. "Just about. We want to keep you here until noon, just to make sure you don't have an allergic reaction to the medication." He still was very happy, and so was I.

"Just a few things before we release you though." A nurse came into the room as I was talking, so I moved aside so she could do whatever she needed to be doing. "There's some tape like stuff on your incision. Don't pull that off. It will come off on its own. You're stiches will dissolve within the next few weeks. If you experience mild pain, that's normal. If it doesn't go away or gets worse, call. Keep on your antibiotics, and you should be as good as new by this time next month."

I left the patients room and headed back to my team's room. House would have to pick a new case soon enough, so I was going to take a coffee break while I had the time to do so.

It has been almost a week since my humiliating physical experience. I avoided Dr. Cuddy like the plague. I told Foreman about it, but not everything. Just that I was examined by none other than Dr. Collins. "She's going to hate you, Chase. I'm warning you, don't go after her." I had laughed it off though. "Come on, she wasn't that bad. We've skipped the talking phase and she moved right on to getting handsy."

Foreman shook his head, half amused and half annoyed. "I'm pretty sure checking for hernias isn't considered sexual, Chase." I knew that, but I mean, how often do you get a hot doctor doing that? "I'll take what I can get." I had replied.

"Chase? You here on earth?" Cameron said, taking a seat across from me. "Yeah, just thinking." I said, taking a sip of coffee. "Our patient should be released around noon, thank goodness." She said.

"I know, that's why I have another one for you guys." House said, entering the room from his office. We all delved right into it and narrowed it down to a diagnosis to test for. Foreman had entered halfway though our conversation. House harassed him for that.

"Clinic hours are posted." House said after entering his office. The meeting room and his office were connected, but the left the door open so we could hear him. "Now since all of you don't have a life, go ahead and divvy up my hours between you guys." Cameron looked appalled. "We already have enough hours to do there ourselves!" And she was right, but this time I wasn't going to fight it. "I'll take his Sunday hours." I said, which surprised everyone, even House. That is a hard thing to do.

"Missing Sunday school to cover my hours? Chase, I'm flattered. Cameron, you get my hours Thursday, and Foreman, you can have the rest." The two of them continued to argue it with him, but I left.

I had a few minutes before I had to go check on our patient, so I took the lift to the second floor, but only after making sure Cameron and Foreman were held up in House's office still.

I made my way off lift and chucked a right, and straight back. I casually leaned up against the nurse's station outside the waiting room that was there. "Doctor, can I help you?" A nurse asked. "No, I'm good." I told him. "Just waiting for someone." He gave a nod and carried on with whatever he was doing.

A nurse slapped a pile of charts down near to me, and I turned casually towards them. Nicole didn't make eye contact with me though and pretended to sort though those charts.

"So," She said, continuing to mess with the charts. "Operation Clinic is a go." I whispered to her, looking down at the charts too, rubbing my chin. Hey, I had to act interested. "What day?" She asked, changing the chart she was looking at. "Sunday." I replied.

"Go." Nicole said, and I took off towards the lift. "Who was that?" I heard a voice say. "Oh, just a patient bugging me for a painkiller refill. I sent him away." Nicole said. I smiled and barely made the lift up. Least to say, I've never been more excited about more clinic hours.

Friday came and went, and I muddled though Saturday. I had signed up for clinic hours already before taking House's. But most of my time was either spent working or sleeping back at my apartment anyways. The wild parties and sleepless nights stopped about a year ago. Shocker, I know. Why not work instead? It kept my mind busy.

It was around 7am as I pulled into the parking garage on Sunday morning. I didn't have a far drive from work, so that was a plus. Grabbing my bag, I made the trek to the hospital lobby. I pulled my lab coat out of my bag and put it on there. I also made sure my nametag was on. Patients referring to a staff member as "doctor" isn't exactly the most helpful.

I straightened my tie and ran a hand though my hair. There was some time before the clinic opened but I went ahead and headed in anyways. I stuck my bag in a cubby in the nurse's station and pulled a pen out of it to stick into my coat pocket. I recognized some of the doctors I'd be here with today, but I didn't find who I wanted to.

I chatted up Dr. Riley from endocrinology while we waited for the clinic to open. He had a pretty great sense of humor, and some interesting stories about his patients. Halfway though one of them though, she arrived. I listened politely to Riley's story and then excused myself.

She was dressed differently than I had seen her before. More casual it looked. Her blazer wasn't buttoned and her skirt was a color instead of black. Her hair wasn't tied back today either, and so I could finally see it. I couldn't decide if it was blonde or red, but I loved it, whatever it was.

I leaned up against the counter again, pretending to be interested in something else. I had to talk to her though. "Oh, hey Dr. Collins. Clinic hours too, huh?" I asked aloud. She glanced up from her purse to look at me. "Dr. Chase." She gave a nod before looking for something in her purse again. "Yes. It would appear I have clinic hours since I am in the clinic."

Sarcastic. I could work with that. "Oh, well you never know, since this is just everyone's favorite department." She continued to look though her purse, but I could see the side of her mouth curve. I'd count that as bit of a smile.

She looked up from her bag once again, this time it seemed random though. "What a coincidence that we just so happen to have the same clinic hours." That was bad. She was caching onto me. "I know, how funny is that?" I said, smiling at her.

Collins was not amused. "Why are you talking to me?" She asked at last. "Well, I just saw you over here and thought I would say hi." She looked even more annoyed. "No, what is your motive?" Well, I couldn't tell her that, and I wasn't quick enough to answer. "Is it because of my chest? My butt maybe? Or maybe the fact I got to see you with your pants down and that turned you on?"

I was taken aback by her bluntness. "No, I really just was saying hi. I didn't want to be rude." I said, trying to back track. "Okay, well you said hi. So leave." I opened my mouth to talk again but she shut me up.

"I'm not dumb, Dr. Chase." She glared up at me from her bag. "I never said you were." Foreman was right; she's going to be tough. I always did enjoy a good chase though.

Someone grabbed a hold of my lab coat and pulled it back hard. I stumbled backwards and somehow managed to not fall over. "Hey!" I shouted. Turning around, I saw who I assumed was a patient on the floor, their hands grasping for my coat still.

"Are you alright?" I asked, dropping to my knees. As I got down on the ground though, the patient went passive hit the floor. There was no verbal reply, so I immediately started the protocol we had for patients who went unconscious.

I knelt down behind the patients head and pulled their jaw forward. Watching their chest, I looked for breathing. No rise and fall, which wasn't good. Collins already had her fingers pressed up against the man's throat.

"No breathing." I said. "No pulse." Collins said. She looked up at me. "Beginning CPR." I said, and she nodded. Using my ring finger, I traced the patient's rib cage to find the spot where I would begin compressions.

"Get me 1 mg of adrenaline and a crash cart!" Dr. Collins shouted over everyone in the clinic. While out patient had passed out, the clinic had become full of people. I counted my compressions out loud to stay focused.

Collins knelt down by the patient's head with a respiration mask. "Twenty-nine, thirty!" I shouted. I stopped compressions to allow her to pump air into the patient's lungs.

Right as I was about to begin my second set, the crash cart got here. Someone handed me the scissors and I cut though the man's shirt as quickly as I could. A nurse and Collins placed patches on him.

The paddles were given over to me. "Charging to 300." The nurse said. We waited for the patches to pick up his heartbeat. "He's still in asystole." Collins said. "Where is that adrenaline!?"

Because he was in asystole, I began CPR again. "Still in asystole." Someone told me, so I continued to do compressions. Collins jabbed a needle into the patient's thigh, which I assumed was the adrenaline.

I hoped the hormone would work, and it did. "He's in V-fib. Charging to 300 volts." The nurse said. Someone gave me back the paddles. "Clear!" I shouted. Everyone jumped back from the patient and I pressed the paddles to his chest.

I could hear the shock and pulled them back, waiting for the nurse to tell me if it worked. Nothing. "Charge to 330." I said. We waited for the difibulator to recharge. I realized that the clinic had gone silent.

"330." The nurse said. "Clear!" Once again, I pressed the paddles up against the man's chest to deliver the shock. I pulled back and waited. Nothing. Again. "Charge to 360." I instructed.

"Still V-fib." Collins said. If he went back to asystole, you may know that as "flatlinining", then I'd have to restart CPR. "360." The nurse said. "Clear!" The shock made the patient move a little.

His chest swelled up with air as the patient took a big breath in. I could finally breathe too. The nurse took the paddles from me and I sat down on the ground. "Get him a bed and a cardiologist." Collins instructed to one of the nurses. The patient moaned and grabbed his side. "And maybe a chest x-ray." I added. I easily could have broken a rib or two.

Dr. Collins and I stood up once the patient was siting up and talking to the nurses. I realized everyone was watching the two of us. Slowly the patients started clapping, which was odd because you typically didn't preform CPR in font of an audience. I was use to doing that in a patient's room, but not in a crowded area.

Collins and I exchanged glances as we both stood there awkwardly. I had to say, she looked impressed with me. "Well, Dr. Chase," She said as things were going back to normal in the clinic. "It's going to be a long day."

I laughed and leaned up against the counter. "You're telling me. My shoulder is going to be killing me the rest of the day." Collins picked up her belongings and charts. She gave a nod before walking away. Sighing, I turned back around to go see my next patient for today.


	5. Chapter 5

I made my way though the crowded hallway towards the back offices here. I tried not to peer into the rooms, all of them containing patients receiving chemo at the moment. I didn't want to see that image. It's part of the reason why I couldn't do oncology.

A nurse stopped me in the hallway, probably thinking I was here for a consult. "I need to get to Dr. Wilson's office." I told her, raising the chart that was in my hand. "He's with a patient, but I'll be sure to tell him your back in your office." I gave a nod of thanks and continued to head on back.

There was a wooden door with Wilson's name on it and I opened it up to step inside. I closed it behind me and took a seat at the chair in front of his desk. Then I let out a scream.

A pair of shoes were resting on the desk, along with a cane. "Dr. House." I said, placing my hands back over the chart. "I didn't see you there." He continued to look at me before he said anything. "You're that resident that Wilson likes, aren't you?" I nodded but laughed. "It's been a while since I was a resident, but yes. Wilson and I worked a lot together."

He continued to watch me rather oddly. "Why are you here?" He asked, looking at the chart in my hands. I couldn't let him see it. I tried to cover the markings more so he couldn't get a name off of it. "I need a consult." I said. He didn't need to know. I couldn't let him know.

"Ah, yes. There are other oncologists you can talk to." He said, pulling his feet off of Wilson's desk. "Why not go talk to another one?" He asked. I had to think fast. I knew he was great at reading people. A good talent when working with patients, but one that would make it harder for me to lie.

"Let's just say it is a very special case, and I need the best opinion I can get." I replied, trying not to give anything away. So, I looked him in the eyes. He stared back at me, and was trying to see what I was really here for.

"Well, I'm a diagnostician, so hit me." Well that surprised me. I had to say something. "As I had said, Dr. House," I made sure I was giving him my glare. That seemed to make people uncomfortable. "It's a very special case."

As if on cue, Wilson opened up the door to see the two of us in his office. "Well this is…odd. Can I come in, or should I just step back out of my own office?" House stood up and grabbed his cane off Wilson's desk.

"She has a 'special case' that she needs you to look at." He said, but he was looking at me when he said it. Wilson just looked annoyed. "I need a consult." I told Wilson. "Okay then. House, beat it." Wilson took his seat back and put his patients chart up.

"You're picking her over me?" He asked, pretending to sound appalled. "The stuck up doctor over your best friend?" Oh, well that was rude. "Who are you calling stuck up, mister I'm-always-right-even-if-it-kills-my-patient?"

That struck a nerve, and House looked like he was going to drop his cane. "Come on now! House, go! I'll talk to you later." House gave me one more look, and instead of looking insulted, he looked impressed. I heard the door close and I opened up my patient's chart.

"Sorry, I don't play well with others." I said to Wilson as he rubbed his temples. "It's fine. Just…what do you have for me?" He asked, trying to forget about House and possibly me.

"Male, early thirties. Normal exam except for his prostate." I said, which intrigued Wilson. "Why were you giving a 30 year old a prostate exam?" Of course, always asking the practical questions. I would've asked too. "It's a long story." I said. "But I did, and he was in a major amount of pain."

Wilson still looked confused. "So, it was probably an infection. He's 30. He can't have prostate cancer. I've only seen a handful of patients below 50 with it." I wish that my hunch was wrong too, but I was beginning to believe it.

Earlier today, I got the results back from a urine test I ordered on a patient. The test I ordered to test for a prostate infection came back negative, which I thought was good. Until I read the results of the next test.

When I read it, the chart fell out of my hands. I was almost certain the lab had screwed up my test and switched it with another patients. That was the first thing I checked, but they confirmed that the test was ran three times, which explained why it took forever to get back. They thought it was an error too, but we were both wrong. Which, was very unfortunate.

"Right, and I tested for an infection. Along with a PSA." I said at last, reminding myself he was wanting on an answer. Wilson was shaking his head at this point. "You ordered a PSA to test for prostate cancer on a 30 year old man with no health problems?"

I tossed the chart with the test result paper on top of it onto his desk. "It came back positive." Wilson understood now, and slowly looked up at me from the paper. We stared at each other, because we both hated these cases.

A perfectly healthy person who was young, had a lot of life ahead of them, and then cancer comes and could kill them. Well, possibly cancer, in this case. "Was it a false positive?" Wilson asked, his voice more mellow than before. I leaned back in my chair and sighed. "The lab checked the test three times because the levels were high."

Wilson put aside the test results and opened the chart. His jaw dropped and the blood seemed to leave his face. He looked back up at me like he was in shock. "Wilson, what?" I asked. He didn't reply. Instead he leaned back in his office chair and ran his hands over his face. I didn't push for an answer and waited politely till he could speak again.

"Your patient is Chase." Wilson said. I nodded, not sure if it was a question or a statement. He closed his eyes and I finally made the connection. Wilson and House were friends, so of course he's worked with House's team before on patients they think may have cancer. He knew Chase, because he was one of his friends too.

"You're friends." I said. Wilson nodded and sighed. I couldn't imagine having to see that your friend might have cancer. But I tried to empathize with him, because I'm a doctor and that's what I needed to do. "I know that a PSA can mean an infection as well. But Wilson, the best way you can help Chase is to biopsy his prostate to make sure this isn't cancer."

Wilson most likely would want to anyways, but it helps to hear it out loud. It helps to know someone knows that this is hard to do. "I will schedule him for a biopsy as soon as I can." He said at last, finally able to look at me. "Do you…"

I knew what he was going to say. "I will call him down to my office and talk to him. Unless, you would like to do that." Wilson shook his no, like I thought he would. "Because if that biopsy comes back as cancer, I have to tell him. I have to be the one that ruins his life."

I couldn't look at him, but I knew he was right. He had to be the one to do it because he could handle it. That's part of his job, the part of it that made me not become an oncologist. And I admired Wilson for being able to do it.

"You need to talk to him." Wilson said. I knew I had to. "Do it after his shift it up. I'll find out and email it to you. I don't know how he will take that." I nodded in agreement. It would be horrible to tell him and expect him to go back to work.

I stood up to leave and Wilson got up with me. He handed back the chart and placed his hand on my shoulder. "Just remember that the PSA can be misleading. Test can be wrong." I agreed with him, because further testing always needed to be done. "Doctors can be wrong too." I said.

He opened the door for me and we went back to faking it. Back to pretending everything was fine. Even though it wasn't. House was waiting around the corner for Wilson. I heard him joke and saw him smile, but it didn't make me feel better. Not one bit.

Nicole had a pile of charts already up on the counter when I got back. "Hey, did you take lunch early?" I placed Chase's chart back into the correct spot. "I was getting a consult, actually. I'm not really hungry anymore, my stomach is a bit upset." Nicole gave me a look, knowing something was up. "So, who's my next patient?" I said, ready to work again.

I went though and saw a few different patients and finally could get back to my office. Wilson had emailed me back with a time and I paged Chase thirty minuets before he would leave. My shift was going to end in a few more hours, so I started to review the next four patients I would be meeting with while I waited.

Nicole came back and nocked on my door around 8. "Hey, Dr. Chase is here. He said you paged him?" She asked, wiggling her eyebrows. I didn't respond to it though. "Let him back here." I felt my stomach twist and I was glad I didn't eat lunch.

I pulled his chart out from my top drawer and leaned back in my chair. I really didn't like this, even as much as I distasted him. He was a womanizing, arrogant doctor, but he didn't deserve to be told he could possibly have cancer. No one really deserved that.

The door opened slowly and Chase poked his head into my office. "May I come in?" He asked. "Or do I have to get into another gown in an exam room?" I could tell he was joking, but I couldn't make a joke back.

"Come on in." I fiddled with his chart on my desk, and he could read my facial expressions pretty well. "Is this about a patient, like a consult? Or is this about me?" I could hardly look up at his eyes, but I needed to. He looked concerned, possibly confused.

"This is about you." Chase seemed calmer actually, and leaned back into his chair. He was out of his lab coat, his tie loosened up, and wearing a leather jacket. The New Jersey nights weren't exactly warm. "Ah, okay! So what's up?" He smiled at me and I really didn't want to tell him.

I kept a good poker face and turned the chart on my desk around so he could read it. "The urine test regarding a prostate infection came back negative. To be certain, I ordered a PSA as well, and it came back positive."

Chase grabbed his chart off the table and looked over the test results. I normally didn't give patients that info, but he was a doctor and could read it properly. Maybe it would make him at ease a bit more. Maybe just seeing it would make him feel better.

"They ran the PSA three times?" He looked up at me, searching for an explanation. I cleared my throat and nodded. "They thought the test results were incorrect." I said, keeping my voice steady. "And," Chase said, placing his chart slowly back up on my desk, "It's correct."

He was taking it better than I had thought. It was probably because he was still in the denial phase. He was blocking it out subconsciously to help protect himself. We all did that. I just hope it didn't hurt him too bad. But this was affecting me too. Maybe it was because he was young. That's what had to be it.

"Well, it still might be a prostate infection. Those show up on a PSA test." I said at last. "I talked to Dr. Wilson earlier today and we agreed that you should have a prostate biopsy." Chase nodded, still not really reacting to the information I had given him. "Of course, I agree with that." He said. His eyes didn't water up or anything. I wanted to see if he was okay. Just something.

"Okay. Wilson got you in for a biopsy next Friday. It was as soon as he could get you in." I said. Chase nodded again and finally looked back up at me. "Will I be sedated?" He asked. I shook my head no. "Local anesthesia, but you need to have someone bring you to and from the appointment. You cannot go back to work that day."

Chase started to look concerned. "I don't want anyone to know." That was a surprise. He had friends, and from what I heard he was rather….social. "Wilson didn't tell House, did he? No one can know."

"I can assure you, Wilson and I stuck to patient confidentiality. No one has to know if you don't want them to." Chase relaxed in his chair and played with the end of his tie. He really wanted this to be private. I could tell there was a reason for keeping this from everyone. People do treat you differently when they find out you're seriously sick.

"I can take you." What was I saying? I blurted it out before I could really think it through. "I have next Friday off, and that way you don't have to tell anyone." Chase looked just as surprised as I probably did. He didn't hesitate to say yes either.

"Thank you. Wow, I…you don't know how…yeah, thanks." He was stumbling over his words trying to thank me for it. I felt bad at how nice that seemed to him. "Email me your address and directions. I will be there at 6 am. Your biopsy is at 7. Do not eat any food after midnight-"

Chase smiled. "I know the drill." Standing up, he reached out to shake my hand. "Till Friday." I shook his hand, but remained in my seat. I was going to need to review the rest of my patient's charts. With that, he left. What did I just get myself into?


	6. Chapter 6

This past week dragged by slower than anything I've ever experienced. Long days at work were stressing me out. Our patient was a kid, which is always heartbreaking. It isn't often we end up with an infant on our hands. It made me sick.

As for myself, I was holding up. A false positive was the most logical answer to the PSA test Dr. Collins ran. One in ten thousand patients under 40 are diagnosed with prostate cancer. Those were pretty great numbers to be working with. I'm a doctor, and so if the statistics are up in the thousands, I was going bank on it.

I kept my trap shut about it to my team. They would react oddly, and I didn't want House's sarcasm, Cameron's pity, and Foreman…I don't know what he'd do to be honest. But, I wouldn't put anything past them. They would blab for sure. Our department was part of the bloody bush telegraph in this hospital. Of course word would get out.

I found myself up late Thursday night trying to figure out the latest problem with the infant we had. She wasn't keeping food down again, even after the antibiotics. So Foreman was wrong. This was definitely not a bacterial infection. It could be a few different things though with the symptoms she had.

Now I wasn't a pediatrician, so I need some help. Good thing Merck was there for me. Merck is a medical book that's sorta like an encyclopedia for diseases. It listed symptoms, treatment, pathophysiological stuff, the whole lot.

It was a bit old fashioned to be using a book, but it was somewhere to start. I was browsing though the E's when I noticed the time. 10 pm. I needed to get something to eat and go home so I could at least get some sleep before I had my procedure done tomorrow. I wasn't looking forward to that.

Collins though surprised me by even offering to give me a ride there and back. I don't care what you say, but that was not a normal offer to make. Either she's super dedicated to her job, or she's gotta soft spot for me. If she even has any soft spots.

That means I'd have to look nicer than normal, which I wasn't going to enjoy. No ties though. I actually hated ties. But I've gotta sell the whole "professional" thing to patients and what not.

I was torn between worrying about the infant's health or mine, but I eventually closed the Merck book and grabbed my bag. One quick stop though.

I opened the door to the infant's room and entered in quietly. Her mother was sleeping over on the couch and her dad was in the chair beside the small crib we used for infants who were hospitalized.

I donned a pair of gloves and walked as quietly as I could over to the infant. She had quite a set up going. I examined the IV rack and saw the nurses had her on a drug for nausea, pain, and then plain old fluids. Poor thing.

She wasn't sleeping like I'd thought she'd be. "Hello there, little girl." I whispered. I reached down to her and she touched my hand with her hands and feet. At least she was aware of her surroundings. That could be a good sign.

"Wish I knew what was wrong with you." She looked tired still, and her eyelids were drooping. That could be another symptom. Exhibiting more symptoms isn't always good, but symptoms were like clues, and the more clues I had, the closer I could get to the right diagnosis. I left her room as quietly as I had snuck in to go and get myself some sleep. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.

I was groggy when I woke up Friday morning. And of course, I woke up thirty minutes late. Just fantastic. That's what I got for trying to solve a case in one night. I rushed out of bed to eat something, and then I'd have to shower again with that horrible smelling antibacterial soap. Gross.

I made it to the kitchen before realizing I couldn't eat. Bloody fasting rules. Why I needed to fast for a biopsy that was dealing with the Urinary tract beats me. But whatever, there was probably some rare medical complication you could get and these Americans are sue-happy.

I tossed off my t-shirt and drawers and turned on the shower water. I got in and rinsed my hair quickly. Grabbing the soap bottle, I poured out the green goop out and lathered up. It smelt like laundry detergent and the hospital. Trust me, hospitals have a certain smell and it isn't pleasant.

Halfway though washing up, I heard knocking on the door. My apartment is cheap and the walls are paper thin, and they kinda vibrate when someone knocks. I quickly rinsed myself off before jumping out and wrapping myself up in a towel. "One moment!" I shouted, hopefully loud enough.

The knocking persisted and I ran out of the bathroom and to the door. I didn't want the nosy lady with cats next to me to complain of loud noises. Again. I pulled the chain out of the door and unlocked the deadbolt, yanking the door open before she could knock again.

"Are you trying to wake up the whole bloody floor?" I whispered and she stood there with her hand up to knock again. "Sorry." She said, looking away from me. I pulled the door back and she walked inside.

I really didn't get the chance to clean when I got home around 11 last night. Let's say it was pretty messy and leave it at that. "My neighbors complain a lot. I didn't mean to snap at you or anything." I told her, pouring a cup of coffee and handing it to her.

She took it but didn't smile or anything. "Thanks." She said, looking around my apartment, but not at me. "Am I making you uncomfortable?" I asked her, pulling a chair out at the kitchen table for her.

Collins finally looked at me with her icy eyes. They were actually hazel, but they had a coldness to them at times. "You're a slob and half naked. What else should I have expected?" She had a sharp tongue, that was for sure. But she actually cracked a smile. I made Collins smile. Can I put that on my resume?

"Not much, I'm afraid." I said, heading back to my bedroom. "Be ready in a few." I pulled open the doors to my closet and threw on a decent t-shirt. I would've loved to have put on my track pants, but I wore jeans instead.

I ran my fingers though my hair a few times and decided this is as good as it was going to get. I pulled my leather jacket off my work bag and threw it on. I walked back out to see Collins sitting awkwardly still in my kitchen.

"Shall we?" I asked, opening the apartment door. She got up and walked out, and I locked it up before placing the keys in my pocket. I followed her down the hall and we waited at the lift door. I pressed the down button.

"The lifts are a bit iffy." I whispered. It was 6:05 in the morning, and again, I couldn't afford any more complaints. "The what?" Collins asked, looking a bit confused. "The lifts." I motioned to well, the lift.

She smiled again, which was great, and nodded. "Elevator." She said. "That's an elevator." Ah, right. Slang differences. "That may be what you Yanks call it." I replied, returning her smile.

The lift er, elevator, dinged and the two of us got on. I still thought it was awkward, but she was still here, and so I guess that was still pretty good progress. "Are you nervous?" She asked, scanning my face for some emotion. Clever.

"Well, Wilson never told me how the procedure is going to go, so that's a bit nerve racking." Collins looked interested, but didn't say anything. "What do you mean?" She asked at last. Urology wasn't my strong suit, but I knew generally how this was going to go. I did rotations in that unit during medical school. Least to say it wasn't one of my favorite departments.

"Because the prostate is in an odd spot, there's two major ways they can-" But that was all I needed to say for Collins to catch on. "I got the picture now." She said, stopping me from continuing, thank goodness. "Neither one is pleasant, I suppose." Collins added.

Right. And the awkwardness level increased. The lift doors opened and we walked out into the lobby and out though the doors. There were a few people there, some of them heading out for work. A few looked too tired for work.

I followed Collins to her car, which was parked a little ways away from the complex. "Sorry I had to park far." She said. I really didn't mind. "Not a problem." Burning some energy may help me relax.

I got in the passenger's side of her SUV and fiddled with the seatbelt till I got it on. She got in and started the car, and we were off towards the hospital. The radio was off and the car ride was quiet.

"It will be odd going into the hospital in street clothes, huh?" I tried to make small talk. Her voice was gowning on me. She was from the south, definitely southern US. It wasn't a heavy accent, but it was different, and I liked it.

"Yeah, jeans feel weird for the hospital." I had noticed she was in jeans. Skinny jeans, which I didn't think I'd see her wear. Maybe she was more fashionable than I had thought. "I agree." We didn't say much the rest of the car ride.

The two of us made it up to the oncology section and I filled out paperwork while we sat in the waiting room. "Got to love the paperwork." Collins said at last. I laughed. "This will be the best part of this appointment, I can tell you that."

She smiled (third time, but no one is really counting). "Really? Because I know you love those beautiful hospital gowns." Was she making a joke? I was surprised. "Oh, I forgot about those. Maybe you remembered because you like them on me."

I went against all judgment and advisement for Foreman and I was going to try this. I was an expert in flirting, as well as medicine. And it, for some reason, worked. Dr. Collins actually laughed. "It sure beats seeing some older men in them, trust me."

I filled out the next section of paperwork, but I could hardly focus. "So you did enjoy my young body?" She shook her head, but she was smiling. "If you want to see if that way, sure." I scribbled my wonderful doctor's signature on the paper and put the pen down.

"Dr. Collins, I will take that as a complement." I said with a smile. She made eye contact before changing her demeanor. "No, I…" She went back to the harsh, awkward person she was only a few moments before. "I wasn't serious. You should go turn in your paperwork."

I cringed inside, but there was nothing I could do. I got up and turned my paperwork in and sat back down. We didn't speak. I ruined it for myself. But why did it affect me? If one woman rejected me, I usually just moved on to the next one.

"Robert." A nurse said. It was odd to hear my full name, but at least I was being called back. I got up and took off my jacket before left. "Good luck." Collins said, not looking up from the magazine she got off the table. "Thanks." I said, before heading back with the nurse.


	7. Chapter 7

I followed the nurse back into the room that the procedure would be held in. A gown was already on the exam table for me. How thoughtful. "Dr. Wilson will be back soon to preform the procedure." She said. "I need to check your blood pressure and temperature, and then you can get changed into the gown."

I let her do the stuff she needed to do and didn't really pay attention to our conversation. She left quickly and I stripped down and put on the gown. There was only one this time, but it was different from the ones in Collins' office.

I sat back down and waited for Dr. Wilson and a nurse to come back. He'd need an assistant. I saw some of the tools out on the counter, and they really didn't put me at ease at all. I really did hate being the patient.

There was a quiet knock and I told them to come in. Wilson was there with a nurse. A nurse I had dated at one point. Wonderful. Had our relationship ended up good or bad? I couldn't really remember.

"Chase." She said, stopping before she came further into the room. I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that it didn't end well. "Hey Susan." I said, forcing a smile. "When did you move over to oncology?" She just stared at me with an angry glare. I looked at Wilson.

"We are testing Chase for prostate cancer today." He said. Like that would help. But it actually did. Her whole face softened and she closed the door. "Oh gosh. Are you okay?" I sighed, relieved that she wasn't going to be a problem.

"Well, I guess we will see." I said. The room got really quiet. "Did you have a good morning, Chase?" Wilson asked, setting my chart down on the counter. "Pretty good." I said. Well, pretty good until like five minutes ago with Collins in the waiting room.

"How are you doing this?" I asked. I was dying to know. "I am going to do a transurethral biopsy of your prostate." I physically cringed and pressed my thighs together. "It will be less painful in the long run, Chase. Trust me on this. Most patients think it's going to be bad, but it's just a bit…uncomfortable."

"Uncomfortable?" I said, looking at Wilson. "Well, you're the doc, so whatever you say." I decided to trust Wilson. He wouldn't lie. "Susan will administer local anesthetics and then I'll just be me here doing the rest of the procedure."

"Local anesthetics?" I asked. Local. "Never mind, I don't even want to know where that needle goes." Wilson pulled a small stool up to the end of the exam table and then fiddled with it to pull out the stirrups. Those are the foot rests essentially, one on each corner at the end of the exam table. And they were horrible.

"Lay down on your back, feet in the stirrups please." Susan asked. I did as I was told and laid down so my back was on the table. I lifted up my legs and placed my feet in the stirrups, but I didn't want to. Grabbing the gown, I pulled it up so it was around my waste and not caught on my legs. This was the most humiliating position.

I didn't watch Susan administer the anesthetics, but I could feel needles go into places I'd rather they not. After a while though, I couldn't feel below the waist as much, which was good.

Susan left and Wilson took her place on the stool. "Okay, how long have you had it?" He said. What? I couldn't really look at Wilson in this position, but I was confused. "How long have you had erectile dysfunction?"

I couldn't believe what he was saying, but he knew somehow. "A year." I replied. I didn't want to know how he knew. "Why didn't you put that in your chart?" He asked. I could tell he was a little frustrated. "Everyone I work with is a doctor, and can access my chart. House is-"

Wilson interrupted. "Okay, I guess I don't really blame you. Why didn't you tell Dr. Collin?" I didn't answer him. I could hear him shift on the stool. "You have the hots for her, don't you?" Wilson sounded shocked.

"I…" Wilson moved so I could see his face. "She's going to act like she hates you." He warned. "She doesn't like men." I laughed. "I got that part. She likes you though." Wilson sighed. "That's because I don't hit on her."

Good point. "Can we just get this over with?" Wilson focused back on me. "Okay, but you need to be careful with her." I smiled. Wilson was like her brother. "I'm going to begin." I peered between my legs and saw the cystoscope and laid back down. If you don't know, the cystoscope is the tube that goes up my urethra. Ouch.

I was surprised that it didn't hurt as bad as I thought. The medicine must have worked. "See, it's not that bad." Wilson said, and I couldn't tell if he was joking or serious. "Not painful, but definitely not pleasant." I said.

"You're going to feel a pinch as I take the samples, okay? I think it will hurt you, since Dr. Collins said you shredded the paper on the exam table during your prostate exam." Oh, how wonderful that she gave him such lovely details of that. "I didn't shred it, just tore it a bit." That didn't really help my case though.

I curled my toes and bit my lip, because Wilson was right. It hurt a lot. My fingernails dug into my palm and I tried to think about something, anything. I ended up thinking about the beach back in Australia. That helped. The warm ocean and beautiful sand. I sure did miss that.

"Almost done, Chase. Hang in there for a few more minutes." I could do a few more minutes. The pain didn't get any better, but it didn't get worse. "Uh Wilson, I feel like I need to use the bathroom." I could hear him laugh.

"You feel like you need to because I had to run some saline solution though the cystoscope to be able to get a better view. When I'm done, the bathroom is down the hall and to the left." That would explain that.

Finally Wilson pulled the scope back out and the first thing I did was take my feet out of those stirrups. I sat up and covered myself up with the gown again. "You will have some pain for the rest of the day. Drink a lot of water, and that should help. You can use an ice pack or sometimes a warm washcloth helps. You may have some bleeding, but that's not common. You know what to look for."

I nodded and wished he'd hurry up so I could relieve myself. "I will call you back when I know the results of the biopsy." He said on a more serious note. "How long will it take to get it back from pathology?" I asked. Wilson tossed his gloves and picked up my chart. "Could be a week, could be more." I nodded. I would just have to wait then.

"Thanks, Wilson." I said. He nodded. "No driving for the rest of the day. Is your ride here?" I smiled. "Yeah, she's in the waiting room." Wilson almost dropped my chart. "She?" He made the connection. "Collins brought you here?"

I laughed at the expression on his face. "I don't know how it happened, but she was the one who offered." Wilson couldn't believe it, but he left me alone to get changed. I threw back on my clothes quickly and made my way to the bathroom because I really needed to go at this point.

I came back out to the waiting room to find Collins in the same spot she was in when I had left. She moved my jacket closer to her lap and had her purse on it. I could tell she was tired from waking up early. I never did thank her for that.

I headed over to her and she stayed intensely focused on her magazine. I cleared my throat and she looked up at me. "How did it go?" She asked, setting her magazine back on the table.

"As good as a biopsy can go, I guess." I said. Collins handed me back my jacket and I put it back on. She grabbed her purse and stood up. Without another word to me she headed out into the hallway towards the lifts. Sighing, I followed her.

We rode the lift down in silence and out to her car. The anesthetic was beginning to wear off, and Wilson was right unfortunately. I was starting to feel pain again. Luckily I wasn't dizzy and I made it to the car okay.

I sat down and focused on not showing I was in pain. It wasn't a lot of pain, just a bit. Nothing I couldn't handle. I hope. Collins started the car and pulled out of the parking garage. "I'll take you back to your apartment, and then I am going to go back to mine." She said, without any hint of emotion, good or bad.

I didn't really process what she had said to me. More of the medication was wearing off and I really understood why I had to take it easy. I couldn't take it too much longer without trying to do something. I placed a hand on my stomach, bit my tongue, and closed my eyes.

"Chase?" The pain eased up and I nodded when I heard my name. "Just a little bit of pain." I lied. Collins laughed. "No, you're in more pain than that. I can tell." It seemed to come and go.

We finally made it to my apartment complex and Collins tried to help me out of the car. I wouldn't let her help me though, and that made her frustrated. I could walk, it just hurt. I was going to be fine, it wasn't that big of a deal.

The two of us rode the lift and walked to my room. Before I could say anything, Collins reached into my front pocket and pulled my keys out. She unlocked the door and I followed her though.

"Go lie down." She said, pointing to the couch. I didn't object and lied down on the couch, my head on the arm rest. Some of the pain was coming back again. It wasn't a sharp pain anymore, more like a dull ache.

"What are you doing?" I asked. I could hear here open my fridge and dig around for something. "You got me back, so you can go." I said. Collins still didn't reply. I had a feeling she wasn't going to leave quite yet. I put my hands on my stomach and winced again as the pain worsened.

She sat down at the edge of the couch, and I moved myself over so she could fit better. "I'm not leaving until your pain is gone." She said at last. Collins had a bag of ice on her lap.

She unbuttoned my jeans and pulled the zipper down. "You wont feel ice through your jeans. They're too thick. Where does this need to go?" I took the bag of ice from her and placed it on my crotch.

"Wilson did a transurethral biopsy. Results should be back in about a week." I propped myself up a bit more so I could see Collins a bit easier. She was making a face at what I had said. "No wonder you're hurting."

I gave her an uneasy smile. "I'm sorry if I said something in the waiting roo-" Collins wouldn't let me continue though. "I know you were just making conversation. I'm kind of a jerk and hard to put up with." I was shocked at what she was saying.

"Why would you say that?" I asked. No one said that kind of stuff about themselves. Collins laughed and got off the couch. "Because I know that's true." I didn't quite believe her. She was a bit harsh, but not a jerk.

"Foreman says you're only that way towards men." I could hear her laugh again. "Foreman can shut his big mouth." She replied. I smiled, not sure of what else I was supposed to expect. "But yeah, I suppose he's right."

Finally she was talking and acting more relaxed. "Most men that show interest in me," I could hear something clinking around in the kitchen. "Just want sex." I was surprised by her answer. "Not all men want just sex." I said.

Collins laughed and opened my fridge again. "Says the guy who's slept with like half the female staff at Princeton-Plainsboro and whoever else." She really knew how to insult someone. But yeah, she had a point. My word wasn't valid to her.

"Sorry," She apologized. "But I don't want to have sex, so therefore I can't have a relationship." She handed me a glass with something in it so I took a drink. "Beer?" I said, sitting up some more so I could drink it easier. "It was the only thing in your fridge." She said.

"So, I'm still confused. Why can't you have a relationship then?" I drank some more beer and set the cup down on the coffee table. "Because men don't want a relationship without sex. It's that simple." She said, taking a seat in the chair near the couch.

"That's not true. You know that." She took a sip out of her cup and set it on the coffee table too. "Not all men want sex." I repeated. Collins laughed and shook her head. "Haven't met one yet." Was all she said.

I sat there debating whether I could tell her or not, but I decided to give it a shot. What have I got to lose? "Yes you have." She rolled her eyes. "Right, who?" I gulped down some more beer. "Myself." Collins thought I was joking and laughed a lot at my comment.

"I can't actually have sex anymore." I said. I needed more beer for this. Two people in one day were too many to know. Collins pulled her head back to look at me. "You're serious?" Like I would say that if it wasn't. I nodded my head yes.

"Started a year a go. I didn't want to say anything about it during my appointment. I should of. " Collins was still shocked, but she stopped laughing. "You were embarrassed. I get that." I was glad she understood.

"How do I know you're not lying?" She said. She wasn't very trusting, was she? "Well, you'll have to take my word for it, or try to get me hard. If you want to, my body is all yours, darling." I got Collins to crack another smile. "You're unbelievable." She said, taking another sip of her beer.

"I wasn't joking, I was serious." I said, not being able to keep a straight face myself. "I guess I'll take your word for it then." Collins said, pouring more beer in my glass, and then into hers. "I didn't think you were that trusting." I retorted, knocking back some more beer. The pain was dull now, and the ice and alcohol helped a lot.

"I misjudged you, Chase." Collins said. Wow, she was already admitting she was wrong. "I apologize for that." I nodded and put my cup back on the table. "No, don't apologize."

I didn't want her to feel bad, because I may not be able to sleep with women, but I haven't had a relationship in a year or so due to it. All of my romantic relationships were physical. I didn't know anything different then that.

"We've got to get back to work tomorrow." Collins said, finishing off her glass. She was right, we needed to sleep. Well, I was going to need a lot of sleep at least. "You've got my pager number from when I paged you earlier. Contact me if you need anything." I nodded and tried to sit up to show her out.

"No, you stay there." She said, grabbing the bag of ice off my lap. Well, it was all melted now. Collins came back soon after with another beer and bag of ice, which she dropped onto my lap. "Sorry!" I laughed it off, but ouch. It hurt.

I insisted that I was fine and Collins finally left. I'd say although today wasn't ideal, it was pretty good. I thought about the biopsy a bit, hoping that Wilson would be quicker and tell me he didn't find anything, and then I could stop worrying about something happening. I worried about the infant as well, hoping that she was getting better. I forced myself to close my eyes and try to sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

"Keep an eye on him." I said, turning to the first nurse I saw when exiting the patients room. She looked confused, but walked on in. My gosh. Rude patients are interesting to try and deal with. Especially when they threaten to leave though the window. It would be a long drop from up here, but I was almost tempted to let him do it.

"Trouble again?" Nicole asked, following me back to the station with a few more charts in her hands. "Oh yeah. I need a second to breathe here." I said, leaning up against the counter.

Nicole set her stack of charts down next to me. "The biopsy on the couple came back negative for ovarian cancer." I picked the file up and looked at it myself. "Ovarian cyst. Glad that was all. Was the baby alright?" I asked, pulling the next file from the stack.

"Someone from gyno removed it and examined the baby. Everything went well." I was glad, because that poor woman seemed like she was in a lot of pain. The next patient today was an older woman. She was admitted originally with what looked like dehydration. Looks like I ordered fluids and bed rest, but she wasn't getting any better.

"I'm going to go check out Mrs. Landers in 205. Looked like dehydration, but she's not getting any better." Nicole followed me into the patient's room. Surprisingly, she was awake. "Mrs. Landers. It's Dr. Collins." I shook her frail hand.

Nicole checked out her IV for me while I took a seat so I could write in her chart. "Mrs. Landers, it appears that my treatment for dehydration isn't working. Have you noticed any other symptoms since you have been hospitalized?" I put on a pair of gloves as I asked her.

I would examine her, but sometimes it was easier to get an idea of where I needed to be looking. "No, not any that I can think of, dear." She said. "Just a bit more sunburn, but that was from being outside for our family reunion."

Right, she was at the reunion when she had to call an ambulance. "Nicole, how's it going?" I asked her. She poked her head up from the patient. "Her urine is hardly yellow. It can't be dehydration because of the fluids she's been on." Hmm.

"Mrs. Landers, can you show me where your sunburn is?" I asked, setting the chart down in the seat next to me. I walked over to her bed so she could show me. "Right there on my feet, dear. Such an odd spot for a sunburn." Odd indeed. Because it was not sunburn, I could tell that.

"I'm afraid that isn't sunburn." I said, grabbing her chart so I could document this. She turned to face me while I was speaking. "It appears to be a rash of some sort. Sunburn will blister if it gets bad enough. The skin is very red, but instead of peeling or blistering, it has an irregular pattern."

Mrs. Landers nodded and touched it. "You're right. It hurts, but not like sunburn. I thought that was it for sure." Painful rash on feet, with an irregular pattern. Not sunburn. That leaves me with rash, dizziness (and confusion), nausea, and diarrhea. This definitely wasn't dehydration, but I had no clue what it was.

I turned to face Mrs. Landers to ask her about traveling and diet habits, but I noticed something else I had missed. "Mrs. Landers, is your vision blurry or unfocused?" I found the instrument to look in people's ears on the wall and took off the earpiece, so I could use the light on it.

"No, my vision is fine." She said. I moved the instrument over to where I could use it to look in Mrs. Landers' eyes. "I'm going to open your eye with my fingers and shine this light in it so I can see. Don't look directly at the light, okay? Just focus on the wall straight ahead."

Mrs. Landers nodded and stared forward. I shined the light in her eyes and pulled the top lid up with my finger. I could see a lot of the blood vessels in her eyes, like they were bloodshot. I turned off the light to see them again and they were definitely red. Pink eye too? Or were they just bloodshot?

"Any pain in your eyes?" Pink eye usually hurt. The white of the eye was not colored, just a lot of blood vessels. "No pain. Why are you asking?" I put the instrument back on the wall and grabbed her chart so I could write the new symptom down.

"Your eyes are bloodshot." She went to rub them, but I caught her in time. "I wouldn't rub them. I need to get someone in here to see what this is, okay? We will be back in about 15 minutes." Mrs. Landers nodded, and I could tell she was panicking.

Nicole and I made eye contact and she nodded, meaning she'd stay with the patient till I could get someone for a consult down here. Should I call ophthalmology? But they wouldn't know about the rash. I couldn't get an ophtamologist and a dermatologist down here soon enough. Dang it.

I went over to the nurse's station to find someone who was by a phone. "Hey, Nancy." I said to the nurse who was doing something with some paperwork. "Can you page someone from Diagnostics to come down here for a consult?"

She nodded and got right on it. I stayed there so when whoever came down could find me easily. They wouldn't know what room to go to otherwise. And hopefully they didn't have a new case, or otherwise I'd have to get someone from optometry and derm down here, and that would take to long to start treatment of whatever this was. I had a feeling it was more severe than I originally thought.

I played with my pen while I waited for someone. "Dr. Collins, Diagnostics sent someone down here for you." I thanked Nancy and watched the elevators for whomever it was that was coming down.

A minute or two later, the elevator dinged and I watched all the people get off. The doctor who I needed was at the back, letting the people go out before he did. Chase finally got out and strutted over here.

He spotted me and smiled his boyish grin. I had to smile back. What else was I supposed to do? "Am I your consult, Dr. Collins?" He asked, leaning up against the counter next to me.

"Yes, Dr. Chase, you are." I said, before heading over towards my patient's room. I pulled her chart out from the small plastic holder that was outside. "How are you doing today?" He asked. Looking up at him, I could see he was still smiling. "Good. How's your crotch?"

Chase laughed. "Much better, thanks." He reached out and took the chart from my hands. "She was admitted for dehydration so I put her on an IV and had her take it easy. The symptoms haven't disappeared. Two new ones showed up today, the rash and bloodshot eyes."

Chase nodded and read what I had written before. "Alright." He said before entering the patient's room. I followed in behind him. "Good afternoon, Mrs. Landers. I'm Dr. Chase and I'll be working with Dr. Collins today." He shook her hand and smiled before putting on gloves.

Nicole was trying to make eye contact with me from across the room but I ignored it. I expected that. "Is it alright if I take a look at the rash on your feet?" Chase asked her. She nodded and he walked to the end of her hospital bed. Grabbing the blankets, he pulled them back until her feet were showing.

"Unfortunately this alone doesn't help me much. Do you have this rash anywhere else?" He asked. Mrs. Landers thought about it. "It's not on my arms. I haven't looked at my legs or back. I still have aches in my legs." Chase nodded and grabbed the blankets again.

"Okay, then lets take a look at your lovely legs here then, m'am." Mrs. Landers laughed and moved her arms so Chase could pull the blankets back. "They aren't quite as lovely as they once were. I'm old now." Mrs. Landers mused.

"Middle aged isn't old." Chase replied as he turned her legs side to side to look at them. "I'm 64, young man." She said. Chase looked up in surprise. "You don't look a day over 50." She laughed again and I tried not to smile. "You're too kind." She said.

Chase took a look at her back but didn't find a rash there either. Sighing, he took another look at her chart. "You recently had a case of strep?" He asked, peering up from the chart. "Yes." She replied.

I pointed out the antibiotic used to treat it on the transferred records I requested. Chase nodded and stood there silently for a few more seconds. "I believe you have streptococcal toxic shocks syndrome."

TSS. Interesting. "But I've gone though menopause and don't use tampons." She said. I let Chase explain. "Right, and that's the usual way of developing toxic shock syndrome. There is one other way to develop it and that is by a certain strain of strep. The strep bacteria move from the throat to other parts of the body, causing the syndrome to develop. It's treatable with antibiotics, but you will have to stay here to be monitored."

Mrs. Landers thanked Chase and me, and the three of us left the patients room. "Write her a script for oritavancin or tedizolid, keep her on IV fluids, and she should be okay." I grabbed a pad of paper that was on the counter and wrote down what I was supposed to give her. "Those antibiotics will kill the strep and the toxins should go away soon after."

I put the chart up on the counter and gave the script to Nicole, who would go check it out and administer it to the patient. "Never would have guessed TSS." I said, turning my attention back to Chase.

"So just the antibiotic and fluids?" Nicole asked, and he shook his head yes. "That's it. Anything else I can do for you, Dr. Collins?" Chase asked, looking me in the eyes. "No, that should be all, Dr. Chase." I replied. Nicole and him exchanged a look before he was back on the next elevator going up.

"Well, he seemed awful cheery." Nicole said. "You have an antibiotic to get, and I still have more patients." I said, inadvertently warning her to stop poking around. "Sure thing." She said. She gave me one more look before going to get the medication, and I opened up my next patient's chart.


	9. Chapter 9

I sat anxiously in the chair the nurse told me to wait in. My foot couldn't stop moving up and down. I checked my watch for the millionth time. Running a hand though my hair, I sighed. Why was he taking so long? Couldn't he just email me and write me a script for an antibiotic?

The nurse came back out and found me. "Come on back." He said. I followed him back into where the exam rooms were. "Wilson said you could meet in his office." That made me more relieved, because that would be a more casual setting. Not as uncomfortable as sitting on those dumb exam tables with the paper. I hated those things.

I pulled open the door to Wilson's office, and I was relieved to see that House wasn't in here. That's the last person I'd want back here. "Chase, he says he will be right back." And with that the nurse pulled the door closed.

I could feel my heart go a mile a minute now. Why was I so nervous? The chances were one in ten thousand. Ten thousand people. And only one. The stats were in my favor. I shouldn't be worried, but I still was. Maybe I should've taken some Xanax.

The clock in Wilson's office was ticking, and it was annoying me. I couldn't focus on anything, so I focused on work. The infant was properly treated and she was finally healthy again. We had a new patient, an adult male in his forties with neurological symptoms, like uncontrollable twitching, needles-and-pins pains, and numbness in his arms, legs, and face.

That lead me to think MS, and Cameron and Foreman thought so too. House didn't though. He's typically right, so it was odd we were all thinking the same thing but him. And usually, everyone differed in the first place. He was receiving an MRI of his brain. Foreman took the lead on this one, out of the three of us. He was the one who studied neurology, so he rightfully should.

I hadn't seen Collins since the consult I gave her Tuesday. I had taken four others from internal medicine sent to our department. One of them had to be her, and I got lucky. Nicole and I were going to try and rig our clinic hours together again like we did before. Maybe I'd get to flirt with her again, and maybe I'd ask her out. But I highly doubted that last one. It was almost humorous to think about.

The door opened and Wilson was finally here. I saw my chart in his hands, which he tossed on his desk before sitting down. "Hey, Wilson. How's it going?" I asked, trying to see if I could judge his emotions. Was he nervous too, or relieved? "I'm good. Busy, but good." Dang it, his tone was indifferent.

"So, what's the diagnosis?" I asked. I was being impatient, but I've waited too long. If I got my script in time I could get it filled and beat the traffic going home. Wilson breathed in and out, like he was trying to control it. "I never got to hear how you're day went. How was your day?" Wilson asked. My heart sank.

"What is the diagnosis?" I asked again. Wilson opened up my chart and pulled out a sheet of paper from it. "Well, your biopsy went well. A bit awkward for you, I'm sure, but-" I was going to lose it.

"Tell me!" I shouted at him. Standing up, I put my hands on his desk. "Just give me the bloody script so I can go get it filled and go home." Wilson closed the chart and finally looked at me. "Chase, I'm diagnosing you with prostate cancer."

I slowly sat back down in my chair. Cancer. I was hoping so badly not to hear those words tonight. I really didn't know what to do, or how to feel. I just sat there. Out of ten thousand, I was the odd one out. Not really something you consider, I suppose.

"How bad?" I asked. Wilson looked upset, I could tell. "Its stage II, but its close to III." Stage II. That was treatable. Survivable. Well, hopefully. "Can you treat it?" I asked. Wilson nodded.

"Prostate cancer isn't the most aggressive." He continued. "It can be, but I don't think yours is. Stage II is good, because that means we can remove the cancer. It's cutting it close to III, so I will give you three weeks of chemotherapy. After the third week and we don't see anymore PSA's in your blood, then we can stop it. Chase, this is very treatable."

It seems that I had won some sort of morbid lottery. Something that kills so easily would only hurt me, if all the treatment went according to plan. "So I'll have surgery to remove it, and then a small dose of chemo. No radiation?" I asked. Wilson nodded. "No radiation will be needed."

That was good, at least. Not a lot of chemo. "When you say remove the cancer, you mean remove my prostate, right?" Wilson closed his eyes, and nodded again. "You can't keep any of it."

I felt like throwing up. "And I'm going to assume that the almost stage III means your going to remove things around it?" There was a silence before I got my reply. "Chase, I am so sorry."

When a doctor preforms a radial prostatectomy, they remove the prostate and the organs around it, if the cancer could or already had metastasized, meaning the cancer cells were spreading. Since mine may have had some cells that spread, they would remove the other organs while in surgery. It essentially would sterilize me. But I'd be alive, and decrease my risk of new tumors forming.

"At least we can treat it. And I won't die." It was the only thing I could think of to say. "I will give you my best, Chase." Wilson said. We sat there together in silence for a while. Wilson scheduled my surgery for this coming Monday, because that's when the urologist did these surgeries. He went over the type of chemo and how it would work. I sat there numbly agreeing to it all.

* * *

"Oh, Dr. Collins, I didn't expect you to be here." Someone unfamiliar poked their head out from behind my office door. I motioned for her to come in. "Dr. Wilson wanted you to have this for tomorrow. I'll go ahead and leave it with you." She set the file folder on the end of my desk.

Odd. Why wouldn't Wilson just file it and then I could pull it again when I needed to? One of the stickers on the folder started with a C. Chase. I frantically swept aside my patients charts so I could get to his.

Standing up, I finally pulled it from the spot on the desk the lady stuck it. I opened it as quick as I could and began scanning the pages Wilson added. I shook my head and reread the test results.

My knees gave away and I fell on the carpet. Cancer? Why did it have to be cancer? I dropped his chart and the papers flew all over the floor. The surgery he has to have is a major one, along with three weeks of chemo, minimum.

I had young patients unfortunately diagnosed with cancer, but this hit me hard. I knew why but I wouldn't admit it to anyone. Wilson had just sent this chart over, so Chase still had to be here.

I grabbed my coat and shrugged it on quickly, grabbed my purse, and rushed out the door. Maybe I could make it in time. I couldn't afford to be late to something like this. Again.

After pounding on the elevator button, one going down finally came. I was the only one on, and I jammed the lobby button in. I got lucky again because it didn't make any stops on the way down. Gosh, I hope I can catch him.

The doors opened to reveal the lobby. I stepped off and looked around for him. One of the doors leading outside had just closed shut. I took of in that direction, really hoping it was him.

I pushed though the door and stumbled outside. "Chase?" I shouted. He turned around and looked at me. His blue-green eyes were void of any light, completely glazed over. It made me feel horrible.

"Chase," I took a few more steps closer to him. "I got your chart. I am so sorry." It sounded insignificant compared to what I felt, but those were the only words I could use to express it.

Chase nodded and continued walking. "No! Not you too." I shouted at him. "You're not going to tell anyone and try and do this all on your own. Newsflash Chase, that doesn't end up well for anyone! You can't do it on your own, no one can." He continued to walk away from me, and I couldn't do anything about it.

I drove home frustrated with Chase and myself. Maybe I hadn't misjudged him. I tried to forget. My apartment wasn't too far from work, and the first thing I wanted to do was get some sleep. But sleep wasn't going to happen for me tonight.

My cell phone rang at 3:00 am. I scrambled out of bed to reach it on my nightstand. "Dr. Henlee Collins. What can I do for you?" I assumed it was the hospital calling for an emergency or something.

"Do you have a pipe wrench?" Great, it's a prank call. "Don't call this number again." I said, hoping whoever got the point. "No, it's Chase. Do you have a pipe wrench?" What? Chase? How'd he get my number? Why did he need a wrench?

"Yeah, I have one. What…why are you calling me at 3 in the morning? You ignored me in the parking lot and wouldn't talk to me. And what the heck do you need a pipe wrench for?" I could hear Chase sigh on the other end. "I didn't want to talk about it because I'm a jerk, you were correct about everything you said, and my apartment is flooding. Can I use your wrench?"

Wow. That was unexpected. "I'll be over in five." I replied before hanging up. I grabbed the pipe wrench out of the small tool box I had and threw on some jeans and a t-shirt. I took my pager and my purse and headed out.

I knocked on Chase's door around 3:10 am. The door opened up and Chase stood there looking like a wreck. His sweatpants were rolled up to his knees, his hair disheveled, and dark circles under his eyes.

He didn't say anything so I walked inside. "Where's the leak?" I asked. Chase led me into the kitchen, which was covered in water. Not like a flood though, like it was sprayed down with a high-powered hose. There was some flood water coming from under the cabinets below the sink.

I handed the wrench to Chase and leaned down to pull the cabinet doors open. "No!" Chase shouted at me, but I was too quick. Water came shooting out of the pipes and sprayed the two of us, and the rest of the kitchen. Oops.

Chase stuck himself under the cabinet, trying to tighten whatever part of the sink was spraying water everywhere. Slowly, the amount of water gushing out decreased until it stopped completely.

I looked down at Chase, and he looked up at me. And he started laughing. He couldn't stop for some reason. "You're…you're soaked!" He got out between laughed. "So are you, idiot. You could have warned me before I got in your kitchen!" Chase continued to laugh at me.

"Let me dry your clothes for you. It's the least I can do." He stood up and I could see through his white t-shirt. "Sure, that sounds fantastic. Let me just take off my clothes and, oh, nothing to wear." Chase shook his head. "Or, you could borrow my robe. But it's whatever you want. I'm not objecting you to wear clothes. Trust me." He said. I wanted to smack him.

"Fine. But I'm taking your robe then." Chase pointed to the door across from the bathroom. "That's where the laundry is. My robe should be in there, I just washed it." I went into his laundry room and closed the door. I stripped out of my wet clothes and stuck them in the dryer. I found Chase's robe and put it on, tying it in the front.

I opened the door and came back out to find Chase had changed into another t-shirt and sweats. "Should only take about 20 minutes or so before they are dry." I said, taking a seat on his couch.

"I guess we need to talk then." He said, sitting down next to me. I suppose we did. "I was in a state of shock after Wilson told me. I didn't want to hear anything you had to say." Chase continued to look down at the floor.

"Denial. A lot of cancer patients go though it. Although it typically lasts longer." It probably was what he was experiencing. I couldn't even imagine how it felt. "Yeah, you're right." Was all he said.

"My surgery is on Monday." Chase said after some time. I wasn't going to press him for information, so I nodded. "You know," I began. "That's a pretty major surgery you have to have. Realistically, you're going to need someone to take care of you for at least a month."

Chase nodded, and finally looked up at me. "I'll have to manage then." That made me laugh. "I'm offering you to stay at my apartment, idiot." Chase raised his eyebrows and leaned back onto the couch. "You would do that for me?" He said, sounding surprised.

I nodded. "I'm a doctor. I kind of care about people, you know." He smiled, looking like some of the weight was lifted off his shoulders. "You do know that it's a radial prostatectomy." My smile faded and I felt even worse for him. It was worse enough to have to have your prostate removed, let alone be sterilized from the procedure.

"No kids, no family, nothing. It's all gone." He sighed and shook his head. "I've never met a woman who doesn't want kids." I frowned at his comment. "That's not true. Not all women want kids." This conversation was beginning to sound familiar, and I realized how ridiculous I must have seemed to Chase.

"Really?" He sounded annoyed. "I've never met one." Definitely familiar. "Yes, you have, actually." Chase still looked annoyed and upset. "Who?" He asked. After he said it, he began to realize it. "Myself." I said.

There was a pause before Chase said anything. "Well, Collins, it looks like I misjudged you." He was smiling again, and so I smiled too. "Sounds familiar." I said.

"It's already 3:50. I should probably grab my clothes and head out." I realized how tired I was, and I really should've left a while ago. But I couldn't really do that. "Or, you could stay." Chase said quietly.

Dang it. Memories of my first cancer patient came back. He was the whole reason I had quit the field in the first place. How could I leave now? "Wake me up early enough to go get my clothes for work though. And I need to shower and do my hair and makeup." Chase laughed and nodded. "I'll be sure to wake you up in a bit then. Take my bed."

I shook my head. "The couch is fine. I really don't care." I had slept in more uncomfortable places. "Take it." He insisted. "It's the least I can do." I realized that he felt indebted to me. I nodded and he showed me his bedroom. "Get some sleep, Collins." He said, before closing the door.

I slid under the sheets and buried my head in his pillow. It smelt like his cologne, which I liked. I had no problem falling asleep quickly.


	10. Chapter 10

I snuck into my bedroom and turned on the bedside lamp. Reaching a hand out, I gently shook Collins, who was fast asleep. She didn't wake initially, so I shook her again.

"What?!" She sat up in bed and frantically looked around. "Rise and shine, sweetheart!" I said, and Collins glared at me. "I take it your not a morning person." I walked over to the light switch and flipped it on.

She continued to glare at me before looking around. "Those are my work clothes." She said, realizing them hanging on the door. "I let you sleep. You said I could go grab them for you." She did, but she may have been half asleep.

"Thanks." She rubbed her eyes and got out of bed. I realized she was still in my robe. "I'm going to go shower. Is that okay?" She asked. I laughed. "Of course." She grabbed her clothes and headed into the bathroom.

I left her to get ready and went to go make more coffee. We'd both need it after last night. I turned the sink on and was relieved when it didn't spray water everywhere. I made coffee quickly and poured it into two mugs.

Shortly after, Collins came out of my bathroom, looking fantastic. "Thanks, again." She said, grabbing a mug of coffee off the counter. "No problem. How'd you get ready that quick?" Women usually took forever. Then again, she wasn't a usual woman.

"Magic." She said before taking another sip of coffee. Of course, the only logical explanation. "Funny. We've got to head out in a few. There's typically a bit of traffic from here to work." She nodded and gathered her things.

We drove separately to work and entered the building at different times. I let her go in first and then a bit after I headed on in and up to my team's meeting room. We decided that it would look odd if the two of us came in together. I didn't blame her for wanting to do that. People talk.

"Chase, you're late." House said when I walked in. "Sorry. Late night." I replied. Foreman rolled his eyes and Cameron sighed. Little did they know what I really meant. House went on to tease me a bit before we all had to give our guesses for what our patient had.

"It's obviously not neurological, Foreman. You just think that because you're a neurologist." Foreman sighed, but House agreed with me. He dismissed us to go test Cameron's and mine.

The two of us sat in the small room while the patient went though the MRI machine. We chatted as we scanned the images for something abnormal. "How have you been?" Cameron asked me rather randomly. "Good, actually." I lied. "Why do you ask?" Cameron fiddled with the pen she had in her hands. "You just seem a bit distant. Agreeing with others instead of arguing, coming into work late, that kind of stuff."

Dang it, she was on to me. "What's wrong with agreeing? And I'm not the only one to be acting odd. What's up lately with you and House?" Turing the question around was always the best way to get people to stop pressing. "He told me he doesn't like me." She said. I thought it was odd she was attracted to House, but she was my friend and I didn't want to make her feel bad about it.

"House doesn't like anyone." I reminded her. Cameron nodded, and we stopped talking for the time being.

"Nothing abnormal on the MRI scans. So Chase, you're wrong. Again. Go do Cameron's test, and see if she's right." We were dismissed and sent off to do more testing. I was heading over to get more info from the patient when my pager went off.

I pulled it off my belt and looked at it. Collins? It flashed again with another message, reading urgent. "Foreman, I've got to go check on this. It's an emergency." I said before taking off for the elevators.

I could hear him yelling after me but I wasn't listening. I was too worried about what Collins wanted. But I did need to get back to my patient.

I ran off the elevator onto the second floor, looking around to see Collins. I saw a nurse wave me over and I went that way. "Dr. Collins requested your help." She said. I was surprised it wasn't Nicole. "She's right over there in the area with chairs and tables."

I knew where that was, so I went that direction. Dr. Collins was arguing with a couple, who appeared rather angry with her. Nicole was outside a patient's room, trying to keep security out.

Collins excused herself and came over to me. "Chase, I need you're help." She said, sounding out of breath. "What is going on?" Between the angry couple and security I deduced someone's kid wanted to leave, but she didn't want them to.

"I have a kid, his name is Michael. I discovered he has cancer, but him and his parents are refusing the treatment Wilson wants to give him." Okay, so I could see her problem. "Why do you think he'd listen to me?"

She looked saddened, but only for a moment. Collins was great at hiding emotion. "The kid has testicular cancer and we need to…remove it. Since you are in somewhat of a similar situation, I thought you just might be able to convince him."

Dang. Poor kid. "I'll see what I can do. Stall the parents. If I convince the kid, the parents will most likely agree." Collins nodded. "Take all the time you need." I walked over to the patient's room, which Nicole was still guarding.

"I need to get through." I told the guards. "Sorry, we need to get this kid out." Right, because you've gone to medical school and know what's best for him. Got it. I pulled an empty syringe out of my pocket. "His medication needs to be administered every hour. If you don't let me though, he will die."

The guards stepped back and Nicole opened the door for me. "Good luck." She whispered as I slipped in. The boy looked about 12, but was probably 13. I could tell he hadn't slept well because of how his eyes looked.

I moved over to the side of his bed. His fingernails were very short. He was nervous and bit them off, most likely. "Hi, I'm Dr. Chase." I said, offering my hand. The boy didn't take it, so I sat down.

"What happened to the other doctor?" He asked. "Dr. Collins is talking to your parents right now." I said. He nodded, and then looked back at me. "Why are you here? The other man already told me I'm sick." I assumed he was talking about Wilson.

"Yeah, I know. I'm sick too." Michael seemed intrigued now. "You have cancer too?" He asked. I nodded. "Dr. Collins said you have testicular cancer. I have prostate cancer."

Michael crossed his arms. "They want to cut off one of my balls." I nodded. This kid was rather frank. I liked it. "So I assumed. It sucks." Michael uncrossed his arms and sighed. "I know! What girl wants to sleep with a guy like that!"

I tried not to laugh, because I felt bad for the guy, but he was like, what, 12? "How old are you again?" I asked. Michael sighed. "I'm 14." Oh, I was off a bit. "Well, if you don't have it removed, the cancer will spread to other parts of your body, and you could end up with what I have, or something worse."

Michael didn't look at me. "Mine has to be removed with a major surgery. It causes a lot of damage. Like, I can't have kids." That got Michaels attention. His mouth opened in shock. "You cant have sex?!" He asked.

I nodded yes. "That too." I could see him rethink this procedure. "Dude, you're going to die alone." I laughed pretty hard at that though. "I know! That's what I thought." I was hoping I was changing his mind. "You could get that though, if you don't go through with this procedure. At least you can still sleep with women."

Michael nodded. "I don't want that. No offence, but that sounds horrible." I total agreed with him. "No offence taken. I'd hate that to happen to you." He nodded again. "I'll probably end up alone too, whichever way I go."

I felt so bad for this kid. He was 14, he shouldn't have to worry about this. "Not true. I actually found someone who doesn't care about sex." Michael looked shocked again. "She's with you even though you can't sleep wit her?"

I nodded. "She has a huge crush on me, actually. Even knowing that." Michael was still in awe. "Wow." He said. "How did you manage that?" I smiled. "No clue. She's attractive and successful, and super smart. I think some of it's the accent. Women like that kind of stuff." Michael agreed. "I'm an athlete, and women love that too."

He looked out the glass door to see his parents and Dr. Collins still trying to work something out. "I think you could find someone like that too. But cancer will hurt you if you don't get rid of it." I reminded him.

Michael sighed. "What if my parents say no?" I had thought about that too. "They probably said no because you did. If you say yes, they probably will too." Michael continued to look out the window. "Would that be all I had to do?"

"Yeah," I answered. "That would be it. It's stage II, meaning it hasn't spread anywhere yet." The kid nodded. "Then I'll do it." Yes! I smiled and patted him on the shoulder. "Good choice." Michael seemed to agree.

I stood up, ready to leave so Collins could bring the parents in and they would work it out. "Well, I've got to get back to work. I'm really glad you decided to go through with the procedure. Trust me, it will all work out."

Michael thanked me for talking with him. "Are you sending in that other doctor and my parents now?" I nodded. "Good," Michael said. "I'll convince them. Plus that doctor is hot." I laughed at the kid's comment. "Hey, paws off, man." I said.

Michael's eyes widened. "She's the one that has a crush on you? Dude, you hit the jackpot!" I had to laugh again. Oh, kids. "You're telling me. See you around, Michael." I stepped out and called security off. Nicole gave me a grateful look.

Collins noticed me out of Michael's room and rushed over to me for an answer. "The kid says yes, he'll go through with the procedure." Collins looked ecstatic. "Yes! Thanks so much Chase. I've got to go bring the parents in." She rushed off to grab them and convince them to say yes to the treatment. I smile and headed back up to my department.

House and Foreman gave me crap about racing off for an emergency. I said Wilson had called me down and needed me to help him with a cancer patient. They bought it, but weren't happy about it.

"Look, Chase helped a kid with cancer. It's okay, Foreman and I had our patient covered. Let's forget about it and move on with finding a diagnosis." I gave her a grateful look before we returned to discussing our patient and the new test we would run tonight and tomorrow morning.

I grabbed my bag off the chair and shut the lights off in the meeting room. I stepped out into the hallway to find Collins out there waiting for me. "Did the parent's agree?" I asked, before she could even say anything.

Collins nodded. "They agreed! He will go into surgery soon, but he wasn't upset about it anymore." I breathed a sigh of relief. "He was pretty optimistic, actually." That was great. I felt better, and hopefully he'd be cancer free soon.

"Good. I was worried about him the rest of the day." The two of us made our way to the elevators. No one else from my team was around, so the coast was clear. "Michael appreciated what you did for him." She seemed very happy with me for what I did, and that made me happy.

"Good." I pressed the button to take us to the lobby. "But," She said. "He told me he knew my secret." I was confused. What secret? "What?" I asked. She was smiling. "He said he knew I had a huge crush on someone." Dang it, kid. Way to blab about it.

"Oh? He did?" I pretended not to know. "Yeah, he said that I really liked him, and that I loved his accent, because you know, women like that kind of thing." Oh gosh, I was in trouble.

"Kids just say the darnedest things." I said, laughing sheepishly. Collins smiled and laughed too. "He forgot to mention his cute butt." That got my attention. "You like my butt?" I asked her, but the elevator had hit the lobby and she was on her way out of it. I walked to catch up with her.

"You know, I've been thinking, Dr. Collins." I said, finally catching up with her. "What are you thinking, Dr. Chase?" She asked, still all smiles. I held the door open for her and we headed outside towards the parking garage.

"I've noticed something. I don't want anyone to know about my cancer, and you obviously, don't want people to know about your personal life, including relationships." Collins nodded. "Continue." She said.

"You also don't want to have a sexual relations with your significant other, and I can't have sex. You don't want kids either, and I can't have kids after surgery. It really is the perfect setup." I said. 

Collins was still smiling as I said all of these things. "The perfect setup?" She asked. "You don't tell people about my cancer, and I wont tell anyone about our relationship." I proposed. Collins looked a bit surprised. "We are in a relationship now?"

I nodded. "I got lucky since my cancer is treatable. But in the moments I didn't know that, I thought about what I wanted to do with my time left." Collins eyes widened and she realized what I was saying. "You wanted to date me?" She whispered. I nodded.

"Well, Dr. Chase, you've got yourself a deal." I felt my pulse speed up and I smiled the biggest smile in a long, long time. "There's one more condition." I said. Collins nodded so I continued. "You have to be open to some kind of physical aspect of a relationship. Nothing you don't want to do, of course."

She was silent for a few moments before agreeing. "I can do that. But you have to wait for me to be ready." I couldn't imagine it any other way. "Deal." I said. Collins gave me one more smile. "Goodnight, Dr. Chase." She said. "Goodnight, Dr. Collins." She left and headed to her car, and I smiled like an idiot all the way home.


End file.
